WPSL Wrap Up: Week 3
This Week
Wednesday
KC Courage 1-1 Sunflower State FC
Having lost narrowly to their neighbors in their home match, Sunflower State went ahead with the last kick of the first half, when Lexie Ruf broke away from midfield and slotted calmly past the onrushing keeper. Courage had a good chance at the start of the second half, but the ball was saved for a corner – which subsequently came to nothing. In the 53rd minute, Sunflower had a free kick from 20 yards out but were unable to capitalize. With only eight minutes left, Courage got the equalizer, Jaycie Johnson chipping it over the goalkeeper after a defense splitting pass at the top of the area from Raheal Akaety.
Iowa Raptors 3-1 Quad Cities Rush
Alexis Vasquez, Jessica Reinhart and Camille Landphair scored for Raptors. Emily Bollman claimed the consolation for Rush.
Manitou FC 2-4 Minnesota Thunder
Thunder broke the deadlock emphatically in the forty-ninth minute as Paige Kalal drove in from the right and unleashed a shot from the edge of the box, into the far side netting. The lead was doubled in the fifty-second minute as a ball was crossed in from close to the touchline on the right, headed in by Caroline Bailey. The exhibition of fire-power continued in the fifty-sixth minute, Paige Peltier blasting the ball past the Manitou keeper from 30 yards out. Thunder also rattled the crossbar in the sixty-second minute, although the ball stayed out. Manitou were the beneficiaries of a goalkeeping mistake in the seventy-second minute, as Thunder’s goalie rushed out of her area but was beaten to the ball by Denise Hamdan who chipped the ball back past her into the unguarded net. It was 3-2 in the eighty-fifth minute as the Thunder goalkeeper again misjudged a ball into her area and Hamdan tapped it home. It was 4-2 in stoppage time at the end of the game, as Kalal side-footed home from the edge of the penalty area.
Thursday
FC Pride 3-0 FC Spirit
A lung-busting run down the left by Abby Lynch was squared to Paige Miller, who tapped home to put the home team ahead after only 9 minutes. A left wing corner in the fifty-third minute was played short to Samantha King who dribbled down the endline and blasted in at the near post. Addy Joiner picked up the third goal, on a Samantha King assist.
Friday
Manitou FC 2-0 Dakota Fusion FC
A ball recycled from a corner in the seventy-fifth minute was pumped back into the box and the high bouncing ball was missed by everyone but Denise Hamdan who walked the ball in. Manitou made the match safe with the last kick of play, tracking down and battling for a ball down the left, with the runner, Sarah Strating winning a challenge and finishing.
MapleBrook Fury 3-4 Rochester United FC
The visitors opened the scoring through Maysa Walters in the fourth minute, a daisy-cutting rasper from 30 yards out, past the Fury keeper. They then put together a passage of play where they looked untroubled but failed to increase their lead, and it was MapleBrook who equalized in the thirty-fifth minute after an interception in midfield and a straightforward pass to set Izzy Smith on goal, slotting home from an acute angle into the net. However, Rochester came right back with a defense splitting pass and goal of their own through Franciele Cupertino. The pendulum swung the way of the home side once more in the thirty-sixth minute as another direct pass through the heart of the United defense saw defenders frozen, appealing for offside, only to see Smith finish it off for her second goal and tie the game.
The second half started like the first, with Rochester United on the front foot and going ahead again in the forty-ninth minute as Samara Nunn received a dinked ball in from the left and shot past the Fury keeper. The visitors then went further ahead through Walters’s second goal of the game in the seventy-first minute, a beautifully flighted free kick from 30 yards out on the right wing all the way through and over the goalkeeper into the left side netting. MapleBrook had a chance to halve the deficit in the seventy-sixth minute but a PK was scuffed into the waiting knees of a sliding Rochester goalie. When the third goal did come, in the eighty-third minute by Kaitlynn Delveaux off a corner, it was too late for Fury to rally any more.
Sioux Falls City 0-0 Joy Athletic Club
Since you are reading this, the chances are you are au fait with the complaints about there not being enough scoring in football (weirdly, even an accusation levelled by hockey fans). To indulge that would be to miss out on entertaining fayre like this match, which included multiple chances on goal and an ambitious overhead kick. It also thoroughly devalues defense and defenders, which after all make up ~ half of the team. Finally, it seems appropriate on a day when City posted this:
In lieu of tonight's game updates we will be sharing mental health resources. Why? Because we care about so much more than #HerGame. Thanks to @AARPSD for sponsoring tonight's match!
Stream the game on @MidcoSports or @ElevenSportsHQ. https://t.co/EutDt0JUS9
— Sioux Falls City FC ⚽️ (@SiouxFallsCity) June 3, 2023
An inefficient but eventually successful night for Salvo, with two goals in as many minutes settling this local derby. The first goal, in the seventy-seventh minute saw Sophia Boman square a ball for Ansley Atkinson to tap home. The second goal came as Boman cut in from the left and volleyed the ball past the St. Croix goalkeeper.
Lou Fusz Athletic 2-2 St Louis Scott Gallagher
A misplayed header by a defender set the scene, but Hannah Larson settled the ball and switched it to her other foot before firing SLSG into the lead in the fourth minute. The home side equalized just after half time, with a long cross-field pass by Scott Gallagher intercepted by Emily Gaebe, who out-sprinted the defense and slotted home. SLSG retook the lead in the 57th minute, Aubrey Mister unleashing a ferocious shot which crashed down off the crossbar and went in. Logan Racine snatched a point for the home side in this St. Louis derby, finishing off a free kick when SLSG made several unsuccessful attempts to clear.
Saturday
Courage got into an early lead after Riley Smith bundled the ball home from close range, bouncing over the keeper. The home side went up two in the twelfth minute when Addison Steiner blasted a ball from 35 yards out. In the thirtieth minute, it was 3-0, as a ball was pumped into the area and Courtney Claassen beat the keeper to the bouncing ball. In the thirty-fifth minute, Kaira Houser slid the ball inside of a defender and smashed the ball into the top corner from 20 yards out to make it a four-goal first half margin. A neat interchange down the left was finished off by Claassen in the sixtieth minute for five. Another firmly hit shot from the edge of the area in the sixty-fifth minute by Miyako Hallier made it 6-0.
Iowa Raptors 1-3 Midwest Muskrats
Alexis Vasquez scored for the Raptors. Muskrats won with goals from Bridget Sherman, Olivia Hernandez and an own goal.
Lou Fusz Athletic 3-1 Sunflower State FC
Sunflower took the lead in the 24th minute, Mackenzie DiMarco outpacing the defense in trademark fashion. Lou Fusz equalized with a hard, lofted shot into the roof of the net only four minutes later from Emily Gaebe . The home side then took the lead with a solo run from Margaret Duggan ending with a hard shot into the far side netting. It was 3-1 after Gaebe scored her second of the match.
Dayton Dutch Lions 0-6 Columbus Eagles
Nikki Cox opened the scoring for the visitors in the opening two minutes, capitalizing on a cross from the left. It was 2-0 after Katie Cox converted a free kick in the seventh minute, lifting the ball from just behind the D of the penalty area into the top right hand corner of the Dutch Lions goal. The home side had their first shot on goal shortly after, but could not score. The third goal came from Victoria Kevdzija in the fifteenth minute, volleying into the top corner after a driven shot by Abby Townsend was stopped by the keeper. It was Townsend who then turned scorer in the twentieth minute as another shot on goal snuck under the Dayton keeper’s dive. The fifth goal was a neatly flicked header from the penalty spot by Gabrielle Hollar from a short cross just after half time. The last goal of the match, blasted in from the right wing, 30 yards out, into the top left hand corner of the goal – with 60 minutes on the clock. When the match entered a weather delay, play did not resume.
Alaina Huber claimed a hat trick, and Alisa Arthur, Marlee Taylor and Jenna Hallbeck also scored as Dayton vault to the top of their division. Addy Joiner scored for Pride.
Sunday
St Louis Scott Gallagher 2-0 Kansas City Scott Gallagher
An unsurprising victory for the senior club in the Scott Gallagher system. SLSG opened the scoring in the 30th minute, Izzy Patterson poking past a despairing KC keeper. It was 2-0 in first half stoppage time as Abby Miller redirected a cross from the right, past the keeper.
Quad Cities Rush 0-7 Milwaukee Torrent
Continuing their red-hot goalscoring form, Torrent notched a big road win. Layla Kelbel picked up a hat trick and Elsi Twombly a brace, as well as Alexa Maletis and Lauren Hernandez also scoring.
Dakota Fusion 0-6 MapleBrook Fury
The visitors broke the deadlock in the tenth minute, Paige Goaley sweeping home from a corner which pinballed around the six yard box. (Goaley plays her collegiate soccer just over the river at North Dakota State in Fargo) Fusion had a chance to equalize in the thirteenth minute, but the pass across the penalty area did not find a home boot. MapleBrook had a strong call for a penalty not given in the thirty-eighth minute after a player was seemingly taken down. Morgan Barnette scored on a flukey sequence with a bouncing ball just beating the Fusion keeper on it’s way through the penalty area. A lightning delay caused an hour-long delay to the second half but MapleBrook came back on the pitch hungry for more goals and scored a third goal in auspicious circumstances in the forty-seventh minute, as a corner was punched into her own net by Quinn Carter. It was 4-0 in the sixty-seventh as a PK was awarded and dispatched by Alyssa Marceau. The fifth goal came via a long, direct free kick up field which was flicked on by Barnette and past Carter in the seventy-fifth minute. In the eighty third minute, Goaley hit the post from Fury’s second PK of the day and then hit the post from a recycled shot, before Barnette finished it off for her hat trick*. It is a strange thing to say of a blowout loss, but Carter had multiple great saves and on another day could have kept the match closer.
* Morgan Barnette has been credited with a goal, where I have noted a Carter own goal, giving her an extraordinary four in one match.
A last minute winner for Allyson Hamski was the difference for the team from White Bear Lake.
It took until the second half, and an own goal at that, to break the deadlock between these sides – although Eagles more than deserved their lead. The lead was doubled on a neat interchange of close passes in the penalty area, finished by Avery Schone. Victoria Kevdzija scored number three on the day off a defense splitting pass. Gabrielle Hollar completed the scoring, drifting inside from the left before blasting the ball into the net.
Minnesota Thunder 1-1 Salvo SC
After a back and forth opening to the match, Salvo’s Meredith Haakenson struck first in the 9th minute, slotting home from close range. The visitors had a good chance to go up two in the twenty-sixth minute but a lung-busting run down the right terminated at the feet of a defender. Thunder equalized in the seventy-fifth minute, a Paige Kalal corner headed in by Paige Peltier. Thunder put pressure on the Salvo goal, but ultimately these two contenders both claim a point.
Tuesday
Midwest Muskrats 1-3 Chicago KICS
From the Southside to the South Shore and a bit further south, the KICS took all three from their road trip to St John, IN with goals from Josie Bieda, Ebba Costow and Isabella Cook. The Scrats’ solo goal came from Olivia Shaw.
Coming Up
Tonight
FC Spirit v Dayton Dutch Lions – 6pm CT
Minnesota Thunder v Mankato United – 7pm CT
Rochester United v Manitou FC – 7pm CT
Thursday
Kansas City Scott Gallagher v St Louis Scott Gallagher – 4pm CT
Lou Fusz Athletic v AFC Columbia – 7:30pm CT
Friday
Chicago KICS v Midwest Muskrats – 6pm CT
Mankato United v Sioux Falls City – 6pm CT
Rochester United v Dakota Fusion – 6pm CT
Milwaukee Torrent v Quad Cities Rush – 7pm CT
Minnesota Thunder v St Croix Legacy – 7pm CT
FC Dayton v Dayton Dutch Lions – 7pm CT
Saturday
FC Spirit v FC Pride – 2pm CT
AFC Columbia v KC Courage – 3pm CT
MapleBrook Fury v Manitou FC – 8pm CT
Sunday
St Louis Scott Gallagher v KC Courage – 2pm CT
Quad Cities Rush v Midwest Muskrats – 3pm CT
FC Spirit v FC Dayton – 3pm CT
Dakota Fusion v Mankato United – 4pm CT
Sioux Falls City v St Croix Legacy – 4pm CT
Chicago KICS v Iowa Raptors – 5pm CT
Salvo v Joy – 7pm CT